Don't Hate the Office, Work It!

There's so much more to be gained from going to the office everyday (salary aside). You can learn so much - and get paid for it. Confused? Okay, let me explain. When it comes to learning new skills at work, what do you think employees value the most? Mastering power point presentations or perhaps Leadership training? Well, a report published last week in the Human Resources Magazine listed the things at work that employees learned which they found most valuable. The list included:

• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Team Working
• IT Skills


It’s clear from the above list that what people most value from their time at work is their ability to develop life skills. There’s not much emphasis on learning specific tasks, systems and procedures, but there is great importance attached to learning skills that make you better able to work with or manage the people responsible for the tasks, systems and procedures.

This comes as no surprise to me.

It is consistent with the business people that we work with on our programmes. By teaching people how to look after their health and wellbeing, we provide them with all the resources they require to maximise their energy, increase their mental capacity and improve their focus and efficiency. These skills are invaluable in the workplace but also enable people to operate more effectively in every area of their lives. Learning these skills within the working environment means staff view their employer positively. Sometimes, people struggle to see how looking after staff wellness can transform the performance they get. To answer that, here’s a quick run down of the top three tips for keeping staff engaged and fully motivated.

1.Every day is learning at work day
Everyone needs to work but fewer and fewer people these days are motivated by just earning a living. They want to learn some thing new every day and always feel as though they are growing and developing. If you can ensure that your employees go home to their families feeling positive and saying, ‘guess what I learned today at work’, you’ll have a much more lively workplace than if employees simply report that work was 'Oh, you know, same old same old' or, worse than that, 'I don't want to talk about it.'

2. Keep it simple
Communication skills, interpersonal skills and team working are all things that you might think would come most naturally to anyone in the workplace but, as our list suggests they are areas that people most appreciate having the opportunity to work on.

The same goes for eating well, taking exercise and managing stress. You might think that handling these areas is easy or that they’ll take care of themselves but they are often the areas that are most overlooked. Offering staff simple, practical and consistent information and advice ensures they can make easy progress in these areas. It also sends a very strong message that being at work doesn’t mean putting the rest of your life on hold, rather you can learn new information at work that has positive implications for the rest of your life. Not so much work – life balance, more work as part of life balance.

3. Make it relevant
When it comes to health and wellbeing, the message you deliver to staff is all important. If staff think that all you’re interested in is keeping them healthy so you can drive them harder then you’ll have trouble motivating them towards even the most exciting initiatives.

If they understand that what you’re offering them is designed to help energize them and upgrade how they feel while they’re at work while also injecting them with energy and enthusiasm for what ever they choose to do outside of work, they’ll be much more likely to view your initiatives favourably.

Show this post to your boss, it may just get them thinking.
And if you are the Boss, what are you waiting for?

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Don't Let the Office Get You Down!

Office life can make you angry, frustrated, bored and this in itself can bring out your inner child. Like this guy.

But that's pretty subdued compared to this guy!!



Happy weekend!

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How To Stay Calm When Giving A Presentation

Giving a presentation at work can be the most daunting exercise. You feel sick, you know you'll go red and your hands will probably shake along with your voice. The days leading up to a presentation can be the worst with sleepless nights and utter fear. But it's a good skill to develop for your career and an important challenge to be able to face. Here are 7 tricks and relaxation tips that will make it so much easier for you and you never know, you may find yourself enjoying them.

1. Practice, practice, practice - do it in front of a mirror, in the bathroom or as you walk around the park. Do it 3/4 times but don't overdo it because then your talk will feel flat and robotic. Just get your self to the stage where you're familiar with how it will go from beginning, middle to the end. then, the likelihood of it going badly is massively reduced. Every great public speaker believes in this rule.

2. Be Positive - be aware of how you sound and try to add some levity and interest to the tone of your voice. Don't just drone because your audience will zone out. Try focusing on the positive energy that you want to project, it will take your mind off your nerves.

3. Stand still and don't over gesticulate. It's distracting for people trying to listen to you and you want their concentration to be on what you're saying not your nervous tics. Practicing in front of the mirror should help you spot you habits when you get nervous and once you are aware of them, you can stop yourself. If you feel nervous, no one will ever be able to tell.

4. Be inclusive - you want people to really get something out of the talk you are giving so remember to try and engage them with anecdotes that bring your subject to life or by speaking in a way that addresses what they will be thinking.

5. Breathe. In and out slowly. This will not only calm you before you start to speak but you should remember to breath deeply throughout. Know about the 3 P's? Pitch, Pause and Pace. This is your Pause.

6. If you have a tendency to go red when public speaking, the breathing will help but I also once heard of a great tip which is useful if you are giving a powerpoint presentation. Make sure your screen writing is in green and that works wonder with the red hue of your face and to the audience, there is no visible blush! Oh an wear a green top too or tie. All helps.

7. Last but not least, the most common advice given to combat public speaking nerves - focus on one person in the audience to the left and one to the right and when you speak, speak just to them so you have two positions and it looks like you are addressing the whole room and you can blank out the other 100 people.

P.S. - Giving presentations truly does get easier the more you do so see everyone you give as a step closer to being the type of person who says "oh, I enjoy public speaking' and mean it.



Photograph by hfb (Flickr)

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How to Deal With Low Self Esteem at Work

Having a negative self image is a really distressing state to be in. You feel isolated and insecure, paranoid and angry all at the same time. The worst place for low self esteem to rear its head can be in the office where you can feel most vulnerable and judged by those around you. It doesn't always have to be this way you should not accept living with it. It takes time to change your mind about yourself but once you do, your life will be so much easier.

Here are some tips to help you cope with your negative self image. Give them a go rather than dismiss them because you think you may have tried everything. Being open to a solution is the first step to getting past your self esteem problem.

1. Support Network - Think about all your friends and work colleagues. Write down a list of those who make you feel good about yourself and those who you're friendly with but they always make you feel bad about yourself. As difficult as this may be, try spending much less time with those people who bring you down. Toxic Friends or Toxic Work Colleagues are plentiful - most people have them and sometimes you just need a clean out. Spend time with people who are positive and you can start picking up their good habits.

2. Don't Overreact - you'll need strategies in place that will help you to put things into perspective. You can't crumble everytime a colleague is rude or the boss is dismissive. Try asking yourself questions about what's just happened so you don't automatically take it so personally and use it as an excuse to out yourself down. What's going on here? Why is this happening? What does this mean? If your boss has just snapped, it could be that they are under pressure themselves, they may be distracted by something in their personal lives, you may have interrupted them when they were trying to get some work done. Focus on the FACTS and not the FICTION in your head.

3. Pass the Buck Buck- Don't accept responsibility for everything. Feel free to pass it back to others when it needs to be. If you're having work dumped on you, say you're too busy, politely point out that it's theirs to do. Stop helping people out in the office all the time because you want them to like you. You have all the rights in the world to be there and you don't need to keep apologising for it. Look at how much work your colleagues (whom you respect anyway!) do and compare it to your load. Now feel confident getting on with what you need to.

4. Try Something New - Take on a new hobby or have something else in your life apart from work to keep you busy. Life is so much more than just work but most people fall into the trap of letting work consume their minds. Be different and take up kick boxing or dancing or commit to a 10k run. Do something that you can focus on and you'll fantastic once you finish it. You'll realise that you could do it and start to feel good about yourself.

5. Set New Rules - Smile instead of getting cross; Ask questions instead of storming off to moan about what's just happened; From this moment on, you are not allowed to say I Can't....it's a forbidden sentence starter; People judge you by the way you judge yourself so don't put yourself down and say how rubbish you would be at something because then they will think the same about you. Just as putting yourself down is a bad habit, 'bigging' yourself up is a good habit and one you need to get into.

These tips are straight forward but with practice and a little time, you can start to feel better about yourself. You are as good as everyone else, it's only you that doesn't think so. Remember that next time you lay into yourself.


Photograph by xoxoryan (Flickr)

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Why Your Boss Should Let You Work From Home

Today is National Work From Home Day and it’s estimated that 5 million British workers will be avoiding the commute and the constant interruptions in the office by sitting down to some power working from the comfort of their own home.

As we pointed out earlier this week, many people claim to be far more efficient when working from home despite the fact that the term ‘working from home’ is still often accompanied by a wry smile or a cheeky wink.

So why do so many people work more efficiently away from the office and how can some of that efficiency and positive energy come back back into the office with them? The answers aren't always as obvious as you'd think.

1) Working in your pyjamas
For some people simply getting dressed for work can be stressful. Putting on their ‘uniform’ means getting ready to brave the masses on the journey to work and then go into combat with a day of meetings and projects. The occasional break from getting ‘suited and booted’ can change your outlook completely, allowing you to tap into the creative side of your brain rather than the business-like logical side you use for following routine.

Try This:
Pyjamas don’t work very well in the office but Dress Down Fridays or Dress Up Fridays do make a difference to the atmosphere of many businesses. Allowing staff to dress appropriately for each day’s working requirements will change the way they view their working day and can improve their performance.

2) Being the Boss for the Day
Nobody likes being told what to do or when to do it and a rigid structure can stifle the performance of many workers.

One company director I spoke with told the story of how his staff were complaining that their working hours were too long. He listened to their observations and implemented a new strategy whereby those who worked longer hours from Monday to Thursday could take Friday off or, if they chose to work on Friday, would be paid for it as an extra day. The result of the scheme was that most of the staff chose to work on Fridays and actually ended up working more hours in a week than previously. Clearly their original issue was nothing to do with the number of hours they worked and more to do with it being their choice to work these hours.

Try This:
Working from home provides more freedom for workers to plan what they do and when they do it. This is a strategy that bears fruit in the workplace too. Just because someone can be seen in the office doesn’t mean they need to be managed too closely. Allow people to take responsibility for their own workload and you may be pleasantly surprised at how they perform.

3) Taking regular breaks
People in offices are wary of being seen to be taking breaks but the natural daily rhythms of your body mean there are times for performing with maximum efficiency and times for slowing down a bit. When working from home people are much more comfortable with taking a stroll, flicking through a magazine, watching TV News, taking time out to exercise or prepare a healthy snack, running an errand, or even taking a short nap. These short bursts of different activities keep your brain fresh throughout the day.

Try This:
Allowing people to take catnaps in the office may seem like a step too far – though it does exist in some offices – but being creative about how workers can divide their day up leads to better time management and increased productivity. Establish the rules of give and take and everyone knows what's expected of them.

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